Cockermouth Mountain Rescue Team warns drones could cause 'crash landing' with emergency helicopters

Cockermouth Mountain Rescue Team had a "few scary moments" when they spotted a drone was flying in the area as a helicopter tried to attend a serious medical emergency on Sunday at Red Pike.

And a spokesman for the service stressed that the the result could have been a "crash landing" if a collision had occurred.

They said: "A helicopter from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency was refuelling nearby, thankfully as our patient became more unwell, and turned up just as we were preparing a technical lower to get him down the mountain. He was winched onboard and taken to hospital for further treatment.

"While the casualty was being winched, some team members spotted a drone in the air on the opposite side of the valley. We had to quickly alert the crew via radio, but from our vantage point we could only estimate the likely location.

"Thankfully nobody came to harm, however a drone could easily get smashed by the rotors (and would still require an urgent landing) or worse still, it might get sucked into a helicopter’s air intake, resulting in (at best) an emergency landing and a delay for a seriously ill casualty, or potentially causing a crash landing or worse.

"As it happened, the helicopter's planned exit route from our location took them directly towards the location where the drone was spotted, and it caused significant concern to all involved."

The spokesman stressed the team was not "anti-drone" but reminded people of the potentially devastating consequences.

"The sensible thing to do, even if the helicopter is on the other side of the valley, is to land your drone as soon as possible, as the aircraft’s planned flight path might take them in your general direction," they said.

"Only for the quick thinking and 20/20 vision of yesterday’s volunteers, we might have had a bigger disaster to deal with."

The team had a busy Bank Holiday, with three callouts in 24 hours.